Pot wiper for slug-casting machines



Feb. 11, 1930. E. M. RODRIGUEZ 1,746,285

POT WIBER FOR SLUG CASTING IACHINES Filed ep 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb.11, 1930.

POT WIPE'R FOR SLUG CASTING IACHINES I Filed p 192a 5Sheets-Sheet 2 E.M. RODRIGUEZ 1,746,285

Feb. 11, 1930.

E. M. RODRIG UEZ POT WIPER FOR SLUG CASTIRQ MACHINES Fiied Se t. 6, 19285 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Feb. 11,1930

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicr.

ERNEsTo M. RODRIGUEZ, or MIXCOAC, ivinxrco, ASSIGNOR T0 MERGEN'IHALERLINo- TYPE COMPANY, A CORPORATION on NEW YORK POT WIPEB, FORSLUG-UASTING MACHINES 'Applicatien filed. September This inventionrelates to slug casting machines, such as linotype machines of thegeneral organization represented in Letters Patent No. 436,532 to O.Mergenthaler, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazinein the order in which their characters are to appear in print, thecomposed line transferred to the face of amold, the mold filled withmolten metal to form a slug or linotype against the matrices whichproduce the type characters thereon, and the matrices thereafterreturned through distributing mechanism to the magazine from which theystarted. In this class of machines, the molds are mounted in a carrieror disk rotatably mounted on a slide, commonly known as the mold slide,which isadvanced from the rear before each casting operation to pressthe active mold against the composed line of matrices atthe front.Usually the ad- Vance of the mold is immediately followed by the advanceof the melting pot, which brings its mouth-piece tightly up against theback of the mold, preparatory to the descent of the pump plunger and thecasting of the slug. It has been found'in practice that flakes or finsof type metal frequently form upon. the mouth-piece of the pot, and ifallowed to accumulate, result in imperfect lock ups, back squirts, etc.c

The present invention is directed to an automatic wiper which isconstructed, mounted and operated in an improved manner to keep the potmouth clean and free of meta] accumulations. To this end, the improvedwiper iscarried by and rotatable with the mold disk so as to sweepacross and clean the pot mouth after each casting operation, beingmovable relatively to the mold carrier toward and from the pot mouthunder the control of a stationary cam track extending concentricallyabout the fixed hub of the mold disk. Theseand other improvements willbe described in detail in the specification to follow, and the novelfeatures thereof set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shownonly inpreferred form and by way of example, and as applied to a machine of thelinotype class, but obvious- 6, 1928. Serial No. 304,249.

ly many changes and alterations may be made therein and in its mode ofapplication with casting'mechanism of a linotype machine and the partsassociated therewith, showing the relative positions of the mold disk,the pot mouth, and the pot mouth wiper in the operative stroke of the.latter, the mold disk being shown in sectionon the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the mold disk and its driving pinion, andthe improved pot mouth Wiper in action, the pot mouth being shown indotted lines at the rear;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 33 of Figs. 1 and 2; v p

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken on the line 4t4 of Fig.2, showing the cam track for retracting the pot mouth wiper; i i

Fig. 5 is a front elevation on an enlarged scale of a portion of themold disk, showing the relation of the pot mouth wiper thereon to thecam track; i

Fig. 6 is a sectional View of the same taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;and

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic face view of the mold disk to show the normalpositions of the pot mouth wiperwhen the different molds are broughtinto action.

As shown in Fig. 1, the mold carrier or disk A, of ordinaryconstruction, is equipped with a plurality of molds, four in the presentinstance, as, a, a and a any one of which may be selected for use asdesired. At each cycle of operation of the machine, the intermittentlydriven pinion 13, arranged in mesh with the toothed periphery of thedisk, rotates the latter in a counterclockwise direction, first by aquarter turn to present the active mold in its horizontal castingposition, and thereafter by a three-quarter turn to carry it around toits original vertical position for the ejection of the cast slug.

Before. each casting operation, the disk A is advanced by the forwardmovement of the mold slide B to press the front face of the active mold,say, the mold a (which then occupies a horizontal position) firmlyagainst the composed line of matrices X in the first elevator C, thecomposed line being tightly clamped at the time between the usual vicejaws (not shown) to prevent the leakage of metal through the line duringcastingi At about the same time, the melting pot D is swung forward topress its mouth-piece D tightly against the back of the mold. In thislook up condition of the parts, molten metal is forced from the potthrough its mouth-piece into the mold and up against the composed lineof matrices at the front for the casting of the slug. After the castingoperation, both the melting pot and the mold disk are retracted and thelatter given a three-quarter turn as before started, to locate the moldin ejecting position. In this turning movement of the disk, the mold ismoved past a stationary knife located behind the disk and which acts totrim the base of the contained slug. The parts described and their modeof operation are well known in the art and constitute no part of thepresent invention.

The improved pot mouth wiper comprises a lever E supported in a radialposition in the mold disk A and pivoted thereto between its ends bymeans of a pin 6 and a pair of small ears 6 extending forwardly from theface of the disk. The outer or wiping end of the lever E stands betweenthe adjacent molds a and a the lower corners of which are cut away asshown in Fig. 2 to afford clearance for the shank of the lever, and thelever is adapted in its pivotal movements to pass through a radial slotF formed in the mold disk, so that it may cooperate with the pot mouthat the rear. A wiping pad e of asbestos or other suitable material isapplied to the outer end of the lever in position to sweep across andclean the pot mouth in the turning movements of the mold disk. The innerend of the lever E terminates in a short arm or nose 6 which is acted onby a spring 6 seated in a socket in the front of the disk and bearingagainst the inner side of the nose, the tendency of the spring being toswing the lever on its pivot and move its outer end rearwardlyrelatively to the mold disk to cause the wiping pad thereon to contactwith the pot mouth.

The wiping end of the lever E is retracted from the pot mouth after thecompletion of its wiping stroke by means of a concentric cam track orgroove G formed in a cap plate H fixed to the face of the stationary hubB carried by the mold slide B and on which the mold disk rotates. Thiscam track G extends throughout the major portion of its and in theturning movements of the mold disk, it bears against the nose 6 on theinner end of the wiper lever and maintains the latter in its retractedposition, as best shown in Fig. 6. The continuity of the cam track isinterrupted by a gap g, which is of such length, and is so located withreference to the pot mouth, that the wiper lever will be released andpermitted to be swung rearwardly by its actuating spring at the momentthat the wiper pad, in the turning movements of the mold disk, arrivesat the right hand end of the pot mouth as viewed in Fig. 2, and thenlater retracted by the cam track against the force of the spring at themoment that the wiper pad leaves the opposite end of the pot mouth. Theseparated ends of the cam track are flared outwardly, as at g and g (seeFig. 4) in order to facilitate its cooperation with the wiper lever, theflared end 9 functioning by its engagement with the nose 6 to retractthe wiper lever as the wiping pad 0 leaves the pot mouth I), and theflared end 9 functioning to release the wiper lever in a gradual manneras the wiper pad approaches the opposite end of the pot mouth. It ispointed out, however, that the relation of the flared surfaces 9 and gto the pot mouth is such that the wiper lever will not be released andallowed to be actuated by its spring before the end of the pot mouth isreached in the advancing movement of the wiper, and will not beretracted at theother end of the pot month before the wiper padl haspassed entirely across the same and completed its wiping action.

In the foregoing description, it has been assumed that the mold a is theone selected for action, so that the normal position of the mouth wiperis between the molds a and a as indicated by the full lines y in Fig. 7the wiping action on the pot mouth taking place near the end of thethree-quarter turn of the mold disk which carries the mold a from itshorizontal casting position back to its original vertical position atthe right as represented in said figure. If, however, the mold a isselected for action, the normal position of the mouth wiper will be asshown by dotted lines at y, the wiping action still occurring in thethree-quarter turn of the mold disk, altho a quarter turn earlier thanbefore. In selecting the molds a or a the normal positions of the wiperwill be as shown by the dotted lines at 7 and 7 respectively. In thecase of mold (i the wiping action on the pot mouth will take place asthe mold moves from ejecting to casting position, since the firstquarter turn given to the mold disk will carry the wiper from its normalposition at y across the pot mouth. It is seen, therefore, that with anyone of the molds of the series selected for action, the wiper will actat some stage in the cycle of operation to clean the pot mouth betweensuccessive castings, the

cam track in each case releasing the Wiper to initiate its action at themoment that it reaches one end of the pot mouth, and acting to retractit as it passes the other end of the pot mouth on the completion of thewiping action. In the circumstances, the normal position of the wiper isof no great importance, it being possible to place it in any one of thepositions indicated in Fig.7 for any one of the molds. In any case, thepot wiper will be maintained in its retracted position throughout therotation of the mold disk, except during the time the wiper pad iscarried by the disk past the pot mouth, at which time the cam track, dueto the presence of the gap 9, frees the wiper lever and allowsthe'spring e to press the wiper pad yieldingly against the pot mouth.

The construction is very simple and inexpensive to manufacture and yetstrong and durable and efficient in operation. Moreover, it lends itselfto application to existing or standard machines without much alteration.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. 'In a slug casting machine, the combinationof .a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate withsaid mouth, a wiper-carried by the rotary disk in position to sweepacross the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk toward and fromsaid mouth, yielding means also carried by the disk for moving the wipertoward the pot mouth, and

means mounted independently of the disk at the forward side thereof forpositively moving the wiper away from the pot mouth.

2. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided. with a mold to cooperate withsaid mouth, a wiper carried by the rotary disk in position to sweepacross the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk toward and fromsaid mouth, a spring also carried by the disk and acting on the Wiper tomove it toward the pot mouth, and a stationary cam arranged at theforward side of the disk for acting on the wiper to positively move itaway from the pot mouth.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate withsaid pot mouth, a stationary bearing hub on which said disk is rotatablymounted, a cap plate attached to the front face of said stationarybearing hub to confine the disk facewise thereon, a wiper carried by therotary disk in position to sweep across the pot month, said wiper beingmovable relatively to the disk toward and from the pot mouth, and a camtrack formed on said stationary cap plate and acting on the Wiper tomove it relatively to the disk during the rotation of the latter.

4.. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate withsaid, pot mouth, a Wiper carriedby the rotary disk in position to sweepacrossthe pot mouth and movable relatively to the carrier toward andfrom said mouth, aspring also carried by the rotary disk and acting onthe wiper to move it toward the pot mouth, and a stationary cam arrangedat the forward side of the disk and acting onthe wiper to hold itagainstthe force of the spring away from the pot mouth, said cam being formedto release the Wiper so that it can 'be'actedon by the spring when, inthe rotary movement of the disk, the wiper reaches the pot mouth, andbeing formed to reengage thewiper to retract it against the action ofthe spring when the .wiper leaves the pot mouth. i H I 5. In a slugcasting machine,the combina tion of a, melting pot having a dischargemouth, a rotarydisk providedwith a mold to cooperate with said mouth, alever disposed radially of the disk and pivoted between its ends to thefront of the same, .a

wiper pad on the outerend' of the lever adapted in the rotary movementof the disk to wipe the pot mouth, a spring also carried by the disk andacting on theinner end of the leverto hold the wiper pad in yieldingengagement with the pot mouth, and asta tionary cam arrangedattheforward side of the disk in position to engage the inner end of thelever to move and hold it in opposition to the spring during therotation of the mold disk.

6. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold tocooperate withsaid mouth, a wiper carried by the rotary disk in position to sweepacross and wipe the pot mouth and movable relatively to the disk towardand from said mouth, a stationary cam arranged concentrically of themold disk at the forward side thereof and adapted to engage the wiper tomove and hold it relatively to the disk away from the pot mouth in therotation of the disk, said cam being formed with a gap to towards thepot mouth at one point in the rotation of the disk, and meansindependent of the cam for moving the wiper against the pot mouth whenso released.

7. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold 1:15 release thewiper so that 1t may be moved said cam track being formed with a gap torelease the wiper when it reaches the pot mouth, and the ends of saidcam track being flared outwardly to facilitate its cooperation with thewiper, and means for moving the wiper toward the pot mouth as it passesacross the gap in the cam track.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a melting pot having adischarge mouth, a rotary disk provided with a mold to cooperate withsaid mouth, a bearing hub (m which said disk is rotatably mounted, alever pivoted between its ends to said disk so that its outer end canmove relatively to the disk toward and from the pot mouth, a wiping padon the outer end of the lever adapted in the rotary movements of thedisk to sweep across and wipe the pot mouth, a stationary concentric camtrack attached to g; the front face of the bearing hub at the forwardside of the disk and adapted to engage the inner end of the lever as thedisk rotates and move and hold the wiping pad away from the pot mouth,said cam track being formed with a gap so disposed in relation to thepot mouth as to release the wiper lever when the pad reaches the potmouth, and means acting on the wiper lever to move the wiping pad into'contact'with the pot mouth when so released.

In testimony whereof, I have aflixed my signature hereto.

ERNESTO M. RODRIGUEZ.

